General

According to BofA Global Research, the supply chain pain during the epidemic may intensify by the end of this year and may deplete commodity inventories.

Due to supply chain delays and consumer panic buying due to the intensification of the new crown epidemic, US membership-based warehouse supermarket giant Costco said it will begin to restrict the purchase of basic household products.

After Brexit, due to labor shortages and rising energy prices, the supply of beverages and meat in supermarkets has become tight. The British government issued a notice urging people not to panic shopping.

"Christmas shelves are empty", Bank of America warns that the supply chain crisis will enter the most serious stage

Bank of America analysts wrote in a research report on industrial stocks on Thursday that the United States is now facing "first mile problems" such as unloading containers and booking transportation. They said: "This will affect the supply chain in the United States, and the worst may occur in the last three months of this year and the first quarter of 2022."

Bank of America analysts cited some of the speeches in the discussion on supply chain technology at the Bank's Industrial Software and Automation Summit this week. Lora Cecere, the founder of Supply Chain Insights who attended the seminar, warned that “Christmas will largely be empty shelves for the retail industry.”

Investors' concerns about supply chain disruption have exacerbated the rise in inflation, and the duration of inflation may exceed expectations. Higher transportation costs may jeopardize the company's profit margins, and some investors are also worried that as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic, the Fed may need to raise interest rates to curb the soaring cost of living.

U.S. warehouse supermarket Costco begins to restrict the purchase of toilet paper again due to supply chain issues

Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti (Richard Galanti) said in a post-earnings conference call on Thursday that the company has imposed restrictions on the purchase of some key commodities, such as toilet paper, tissues, bottled water and those in high demand. Cleaning products. He did not specify how many customers can buy for each product, but said the company wants to make sure that the store has the essentials.

The reason for this purchase restriction is different from that of the early stage of the epidemic. At that time, customers hoarded paper and antibacterial wipes, which led to an unusually strong demand for these products.

Galanti said: "A year ago, there was a shortage of goods. Now they have a lot of goods, but due to short-term changes in trucking and delivery requirements of the suppliers, the delivery time will be delayed by two to three weeks, so the impact is indeed comprehensive. of."

As early as August, some social media posts mentioned the purchase restrictions of some private label products. This week, Costco warned some customers that they may experience delays when ordering toilet paper online. During the US epidemic, toilet paper has become synonymous with stockpiling.

Galanti said Costco placed an order in advance to get what it needs. He also said that the company has chartered three ocean freighters for next year to transport containers between Asia and the United States and Canada. He said that each ship can load 800 to 1,000 containers at a time.

U.K. food supply is tight, supermarkets burst into panic buying

According to a Reuters report on the 23rd, Tesco, the largest supermarket company in the UK, told the government last week that if measures are not taken as soon as possible, the shortage of truck drivers will lead to tight supply before Christmas and spark a panic shopping wave. The carbonated beverage and bottled water shelves of supermarkets in some British cities have been emptied. The turkey supplier also warned that if the carbon dioxide shortage problem is not resolved, this Christmas, the British may not be able to eat traditional roast turkey.

The report pointed out that since the economy was unblocked earlier this year, companies have increasingly complained about the lack of workers, especially in the areas of hotels, food processing and logistics. Labor shortages have caused supermarket shelves to be out of stock and restaurants have even closed. In addition to rising natural gas prices and labor shortages, insufficient carbon dioxide supply has also exacerbated the tight supply in supermarkets. The aquaculture, beverage manufacturing, and food preservation packaging are all inseparable from carbon dioxide, but due to the impact of rising energy prices, many companies have stopped or reduced the production of carbon dioxide for food.

British Small Business Minister Paul Scully said: “People don’t need to go out to buy goods. It’s not in the 1970s.” He was referring to the winter of 1978-79 when the UK economy was in chaos due to inflation and strikes. . Tesco said that although the shortage of truck drivers has brought challenges to the supply, the supply of goods is in good condition.